Pete Ward, the lecturer in youth ministry at Kings College in London, visited South Africa in March 2000 and presented a series of seminars around the country. This is a summary of his day seminar at Honeyridge Baptist Church on Wednesday the 29th March 2000.
Session 1: Incarnational Ministry
* Christian youthwork starts with the Gospel. It is all about finding ways to connect with youth through friendships in order to share Christ with them.
* Christian youth work is the imitation of Jesus Christ. How you imitate Jesus in your context might be different from me in my context. Same Jesus, different context. Every country, neighbourhood and group of youth is unique.
In John 20:19f, the risen Jesus meets disciples in a room. The disciples' sending is connected with Jesus' sending: “As the Father sent me so I send you” (John 20). We have been sent in the manner that Jesus was sent. How we do things, the manner, is important. We can imitate what Jesus did if we model ourselves in what he did.
There are two stories that will guide our thinking:
1. Jesus in the Community: Washing the Disciple's Feet (John 13:3)
The common theme of the two stories is hospitality. It is possible that the host did not provide proper hospitality and wash his guests feet - we get the feeling that something has not been done right and that Jesus takes it upon himself to set things right. Churches are often only half welcoming places – especially people from different backgrounds or groups. When the Christian community is welcoming it will be evangelistic. Jesus is challenging us to go beyond our limited and safe welcomes. Jesus takes something common and works with it until he creates an epiphany of God. He takes a basic thing and revs it up. We must ask ourselves: “What can we work with in our youth culture?” Jesus revealed God through the everyday symbol of water.
2. Jesus in the World: The Woman at the Well (John 4:3)
In the second story the Christian community is out of the picture – the disciples have gone off to buy food. Jesus is outside of his comfort zone – outside of the bubble, of his neighbourhood. There are evangelistic encounters that only take place when we are outside the “bubble” of Christianity. When Jesus meets this woman, he receives hospitality from her – it is initiated by the kindness of a non-Jewish woman. In the first story, Jesus initiates hospitality in the Christian community.
Application: We have meetings, and we try to be hospitable, but no matter how hospitable we are in our meetings, there are those that will not come to our meetings. We need to go into the world, as modelled by Jesus, to meet people where they are.
The Two Disciplines of Youth Ministry
A youth worker must play two different roles. This requires two different theories and modes of thinking.
A. Inside-out
This approach to youth ministry involves gathering Christian kids; doing things with them like Bible study and worship – and through friendships other youth will come. The nucleus of the group socializes their friends. The goal is for fringe youth to become part of the nucleus. This was the model that energised everything that happened in youth ministry for years. The following diagram shows the two groups of youth and the intended movement of youth into the nucleus:
B. Outside-in
This discipline of youth ministry starts with the question: “Where are kids in our community?” It encourages us to start where they are, instead of starting with the young people you have. We aim to build a route where they can become a part of the Christian community. It involves contextualising things based on what youth are doing. We must ask ourselves: “What is there of God in what they are already doing?” The following diagram depicts the discipline:
The two disciplines are different, firstly in the assumed culture. In the inside-out discipline, the culture of the church is the starting point. Kids must come into the way we do things (into our subculture) – it is all about socialising kids into the Christian community. The outside-in discipline assumes the culture of the people being reached – it involves contextualisation. We must find out what they value. The primary concern when you work inside out is the anxieties of Christian parents. The primary function of the first model is to provide safety for the youth in the church (and their parents!). The primary function of the second model is the community, and what is already happening.
Session 2: Relational Outreach
How do we meet youth 'out there' and share the gospel with them? Five stages are suggested:
A. Contact
Jesus worked for 30 years before he actually called anyone into the “church”. It can take time to get to know the “neighbourhood” and the people, the culture, the lay of the land, so to speak. Where are the kids and how do I meet them? Go there! Are they skateboarding? Go there! High Schools? Go there. Once you get there, don't preach or teach, just go and play football, or talk (hang out), but go be there with them. The point is to get some connection and to listen. We need to learn to understand the lingo, the trends, the expressions used. This doesn't mean that I must starting talking or dressing the way they do. For example, think of a missionary going into another culture. They need to learn to respect the other people and their culture. They don't necessarily become just like the people they are going to, but it starts with respect. Adults are usually guilty of acting as a teacher or an authority. We need to learn to relate to youth in a way that will encourage them to relate to us.
B. Extended Contact
You might be meeting with people regularly, but not going anywhere. You find yourself just repeating the same things, conversations, etc. over and over. How do you move things forward? Some people think that we need to build a facility for people to come to. The problem is that it can take all your time running the facility, keeping it going, and you miss out on doing the things that build relationships. Building relationships requires that you do things together. Creating shared experiences, apart from what you normally do (away from work, school, etc.). It is difficult to do this with a facility. If you are just on the street and mobile, it is much easier to move to the next things. What you do will depend largely on what you and they are into doing. If you only do things that they like to do, it is not as good as doing things that has a payoff for both of you. God uses who you are to meet people where they are. What you do is a bit of a mixture of you and them.
C. Proclamation
Now you are starting to learn about each other a bit. They probably know you are a Christian youth worker, believe in God, etc. You know what kind of music they like, where they live, what their families are like, etc. This is very often where things stay. What needs to happen is the next step – that of proclamation – giving a verbal account of the gospel. You need to find some way to explain the gospel in a way that they can relate to. You need to try to fit something that is designed exactly for them.
Most of this type of “preaching” falls into what someone has called “This is that” theology. This is what Jesus did (i.e. woman at the well). We need to find a way of telling the right story about Jesus. You have about three minutes to say what you have to say. What is it then, that you are going to say in three minutes that would make them want to hear more? Which story from the Gospels are you going to tell? This is contextualization. You may only have one shot. How can you connect with their lives and say something about God that might make a difference? Think of Jesus' encounters with Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, woman at the well, etc. He often unlocked people's lives by doing very simple things and saying very simple things. A lot of what he said comes from what the other people bring to him.
Young people today (particularly in the U.K.) are more open to new and experimental spiritual experiences. We have eager, but completely ignorant, takers. Nothing has changed in their lifestyle, but they are open to experiencing things spiritual, especially if you have built up a relationship with them. Sometimes in the proclamation stage a worship experience can be offered (meditation, dance, etc.). Not only do you need to find a way to tell the story, but find a way for them to have an experience spiritually, a way to meet God. For example, we went to a Cathedral at night, with no lights but lit candles, singing songs – led to a spiritual experience that opened them to the gospel.
D. Nurture
The end result of this stage is a group of youth needing Christian community. They need to read stories about Jesus and make sense of them in their context. Your role as youth worker is to confirm or adjust their understandings.
E. Church
We must find some way for this group of kids to be part of a church plant or get them linked to another church. Being one in Christ is a gospel truth, yet we also need space for cultural or generational diversity. There is oneness in the body of Christ, but there is also diversity (music, worship styles, etc.). It might not be the complete expression of the Gospel in a group to just establish a group on it's own. Perhaps they need to be grouped with two or three other groups (gradually). We will need to work out what unity looks like in each context.
This session ended with Pete leading the delegates to work with the two stories (the woman at the well and Jesus washing disciple's feet). We were encouraged to imagine ourselves into the story. Our work with youth must move from the rational side of the brain to the experiential side. We were led through a guided meditation based on the two passages while chill music played in the background. After a time of entering into the passages, we were put into small groups where we shared what we saw and learnt from the experience.
Session 3: Church Culture/Youth Culture in South Africa (Questions & Answers)
Q. When you talk about outside-in ministry are you just talking about friendship evangelism in a different way.
A. No! Friendship evangelism is still inside-out ministry. It assumes the culture of the church. It does not revolve around building a Christian community around the culture of a group of young people.
Q: How can we marry the new evangelism effort with the established church, each having very different cultures?
A: Perhaps we should look at keeping the newly established group in the context in which it was formed and not integrating it in a different context. Alternatively, we need to think of other ways of learning and sharing from each other besides just getting together at the same service once a week. Many use this as a church planting effort only and do not negotiate with an existing church or congregation. It is critical how you marry the Outside-in and the Inside-out. Invariably the church, the church kids and the church parents subvert the Outside-in kids because they are not “safe” to have around their kids.
Q: Wouldn't an idea be to use the nucleus as potential Outside-In ministers? Similar to Jesus, taking the few, training them, and sending them out.
A: Outside-In is a calling of missiological proportions. It takes a huge amount of commitment and training. It would be a mistake to set them a really tough task that they are doomed to fail without a calling, passion and training. The nucleus of a church's youth group should be used to minister to people who might be called to a variety of things, not just what the pastor thinks is important (e.g. Outside-In).
Session 4: Worship in the UK
Worship and experimenting with different styles of worship is a major factor of youth ministry today. In the past worship was more of an add-on to a programme to educate and entertain them at the same time. For example, a youth camp would do all sorts of exciting things through the week of camp to communicate the gospel and then at the end have a traditional worship session out of duty, knowing that the kids wouldn't really get into it. Today that has changed. Worship has become a main part. Today we have things like Soul Survivor where many people choose to worship God for up to six hours a day. Today this is one of the biggest things happening in the U.K.
1. Changes in Youth Culture
A. Spiritual Experience
The culture at large (not just church culture) is that people are more open to spiritual experiences (e.g. check the New Age & Spiritual sections of the bookshops). There is a growth in people going on retreats to monasteries, in visiting cathedrals, in Christian and spiritual music, etc. You see it in all kinds of music and movies, discussing God and theology, and spirituality in many ways. This is not always good for the church, as people are getting their education from these other sources. These things are “in play”, but what is not in play are institutions. 6 out of 10 might not go to church, but those 6 would be willing to have another type of spiritual experience apart from the church. We used to “sugar the pill” by having fun activities, sports, etc. and then have worship as an add-on-have-to-do. Today this is changing. Groups like Soul Survivor are moving towards Spiritual experiences being the main event, and if we get it right, then young people meet God. For example, the big thing in the U.K. at the moment is people volunteering to give a year or two of their time in overseas service (these are 30-somethings). People are looking for something to make their lives meaningful, but the church is unfortunately not meeting the task.
B. Rejection of Youth Ministry as Entertainment
Today, young people in the U.K. experience youth ministry that's entertainment is patronizing. A ministry that says “Come here to meet God in worship” is not seen as patronizing, but as straight forward.
C. The Offence of Evangelism
The person that stands up and says that they are right and you are wrong is seen as morally wrong. The moral of the story is not that we should give up evangelism, but that we should change the way we do evangelism. For example, it's not that I have something you don't have…it's that I am looking for God just as you are. That changes the situation. Non-believers want us to state what we believe but reject that we would want them to believe the same. We must work at getting people to belong and then to believe.
D. Provider/Client Relationship Rejected
Youth do not just want a programme that is laid on for them. They want to have a part of what is planned. The exception is big, media type events, which youth still want, but would have no part in organizing.
2. Changes in the Church
E. Children of Renewal Want Change
We have the paradox of churches that are reviving, but the kids don't buy it. The worship is like the style of the 70's. It sounds kind-of like any music you would hear on a middle-of-the-road rock station. As a result there is more and more experimentation in worship. Sources are coming from contemporary youth culture; Catholic culture (icons, incense, candles, music, etc.); and Celtic spirituality. They are looking for something with a bit more depth than the 70's.
F. Evangelism is Essential to Survival
The realization that 90% of people are “out there” and this is leading to more and more creative ways to reaching out to them.
G. Post-evangelical?
The twenty/thirty-somethings are dissatisfied with church (whether they are charismatic or conservative) and are getting into alternative worship with visual images, dance, rituals, etc.
The seminar ended with Pete leading the delegates in an alternative worship service. A darkened hall was set up with three small tables on which were places bottles of water; a bowl with water, some towels and candles. Loud dance music was played to create an atmosphere. We began by listening to a dance track that encouraged us to feel welcome and to meet with God. He then led us in a song with a dance track backing. We were then reminded of the two stories that we had worked with earlier in the day: that of Jesus and the woman at the well and the washing of the disciples' feet. We were encouraged to see the symbols on the table as representative of the two disciplines of inside-out (bowl and towels) and the outside-in (drinking water). We were encouraged to use the symbols to express our response before God at the close of the seminar. We ended by singing an old Celtic hymn that we had learnt earlier in the day for the worship service.
Read emails that were submitted to an online forum after the seminar by the delegates.
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